Epiphany 4 - Thursday - Feast of The Presentation

Text: John 8:31-36 (see below)

At a recovery meeting last night, the following portion of text was read from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions:  “Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s (D.A.’s) message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect – unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself” (page 23).

There was a deafening silence after the reader had finished those words for a profound truth had been shared and everybody knew it. In my own recovery process, I remembered how I resisted being “rigorously honest”; not wanting to “confess faults”; not giving a rip about some other person who might be the “next sufferer.”  Self-centered to an extreme, the addict continues to pretend that all is well until faced with his or her immediate survival.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

In recovery, there is much talk about moving from vagueness to clarity. This is an aspect of the program that I have been diligently working on. Until one becomes rigorously honest of what is happening in one’s life there can be no chance of transformation or renewal. Until one deals honestly with one’s faults, allowing God to “remove those defaults of character”, and attempting to make restitution for harm done, a person continues to live in a paralyzed state. Until one becomes radically tolerant of others and wants to sacrifice weekly time and energy to bring the good news of salvation to another lost soul, a person continues to live in darkness. But all of that can change in an instant if the person is willing to embrace truth which liberates and transforms.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

What set my mind spinning last evening and drove me to reflection deep into the night was how descriptive those words from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions were for the institutional Church. How often have you and I experienced in the Church persons refusing to be honest about issues in their own life or in the life of a congregation or in the life of a Diocese? I have experienced and worked with leadership teams and clergy who have refused to deal honestly with matters facing their community of faith falsely believing that if “we just charge ahead” all will be well; or if “we pretend that it never happened” we can survive this current problem; or if “we deflect and focus on something better” we can make the people forget. This false belief is exposed as soon as the next crisis presents itself. As a therapist friend of mine told me many years ago, if the wound of a crisis is not adequately addressed, exposed and tended to, it will fester and prolong the pain leading to continued serious illness and misery.

Again, how often have you and I experienced in the Church persons refusing to admit fault for actions taken and rejecting the need to make restitution for harm inflicted to others? The danger for any community especially for the Church and for every person who calls themselves Christian is to live in illusions. We all do it and it is very dangerous for it shuts ourselves off from others.

Scott Peck in his awesome work The Road Less Travelled wrote: “That which is false is unreal. The more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world. The less clearly we see the reality of the world – the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions and illusion – the less able we will be to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions…. Truth or reality is avoided when it is painful. We can revise our maps (ie. our own course of action) only when we have the discipline to overcome that pain. To have such discipline we must be totally dedicated to truth. That is to say that we must always hold truth, as far as we can determine it, to be more important, more vital to one’s self-interest than our comfort…. A life of total dedication to the truth also means a life of willingness to be personally challenged…. But the tendency to avoid challenge is so omnipresent in human beings that it can properly be considered as a characteristic of human nature” (pages 44, 52-53).

Jean Vanier, the author of Community and Growth offers further insight: “There is no growth when we live in falsehood and illusion; when we are frightened to let the truth be uncovered and seen by ourselves and by others. So often we hide our fears, our injustices, our incompetence, our hypocrisy. We can hide behind our religious rules, as did the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We must open ourselves up to the truth and let it be revealed, even if it shows our intrinsic poverty and sinfulness. And then let us cry out to Jesus, the Savior, who will send us his Spirit, and guide us, and forgive us. Only then can the truth make us free”(page 135).

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

If you have read this far, let me be very candid. I have been on both sides of these concerns. I have aided in the problematic issues in the Church because of my sin, my arrogance and my actions. I have also experienced the Grace of God in my life; humbling myself before God actually has given me a more balanced perspective of my place in the Universe.

My passion is that I still believe in the message of Jesus and what His Church can truly offer to the world. I believe that the Christian Church is one of the few places left on the earth that can speak with authenticity and authority to the challenges and spiritual trials that many persons are engaged in today. But in order to be an authentic witness to the message of the Gospel, congregations, dioceses, and denominations must examine with “rigorous honesty” the sin, vagueness, and darkness that plague too many of our congregations across this land. Our calling as leaders in the Church is to invite the members of our faith communities out of the tombs of self-centeredness into the radical light and love of Jesus that leads to truth, clarity and an abundant life not only for the individual both also for the community as a whole.

I am going to write more on these ideas over the course of the next couple of days. I hope you will come back, reflect and journey with me. Thanks for reading.

Love One Another – Brian

Looking Fear in the Face

Eleanor Roosevelt

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

Source: Voice and Verse, Sojourner’s website

John 8:31-36

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.’